PHOENIX — The Broncos’ new plan at inside linebacker is a lot like a previous version.
They’re moving forward with Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad atop the room after signing both to extensions at the outset of free agency in early March.
They released Dre Greenlaw with a post-June 1 designation after one year, $11.5 million and a pair of injuries that limited him to eight games in the regular season.
Denver could have made a splash in free agency, but general manager George Paton offered a simple explanation Monday for why his team opted for retention.
“Singleton and Strnad are really good players,” Paton said. “Dre — we couldn’t keep the three of them. Dre helped us win a bunch of games, he helped our culture. We wish him the best, but we’re really happy to have Strnad and Singleton.”
Paton, a month ago at the NFL Combine, said he hoped the Broncos could keep both, and ultimately they did,signing Strnad to a three-year, $18 million dealandSingleton to a two-year, $15 million deal.
Greenlaw, meanwhile, re-signed with San Francisco a year after the Broncos won a heated battle between the clubs for his services.
“Just how much we love Dre as a person and as a player,” San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday when asked about the rationale for bringing Greenlaw back. “He’s one of the best linebackers I’ve ever coached and I’ve been around some good ones. What he’s meant to the Niners organization.
“We hated being away from him for a year and we’re pumped he’s back.”
Singleton and Strnad are part of a broader pattern of retention in Denver this spring. The Broncos signed or tendered 13 of their 17 restricted and unrestricted free agents, plus all four of their exclusive rights players.
“We like our players,” Paton said. “We compare all our players to whatap there in free agency and our guys were up there pretty high.
“We’ve won a lot of games with these guys. They fit the culture and not everyone does.”
Paton extension a ‘when,’ not if
The Broncos general manager is entering the final year of his original six-year contract he signed when he was hired in January 2021.
CEO and owner Greg Penner reiterated Monday that finalizing an agreement to keep Paton in Denver is a matter of when, not if.
“We want to have George here long-term,” Penner said. “He’s been a terrific partner for Sean and how they work together. I’m sure we’ll get that sorted out.”
Broncos ‘haven’t heard’ on international game in ’26
Broncos president Damani Leech said the club has not heard anything about playing an international game in 2026.
That doesn’t categorically rule out Denver landing a game as a visiting team, but typically teams are at least aware of the possibility by this point a little more than a month before the schedule is released. By this time a year ago, the Broncos knew they were in the mix to play either in Berlin, Germany or London. They ended up playing the New York Jets at Tottenham Stadium in London.
One potential this year would be playing San Francisco in Mexico City, but so far, there has been no indication that Denver will be placed in that game.
“Technically, we are (in the mix), but we haven’t heard anything yet,” Leech said.
Before joining the Broncos as team president in 2022, Leech was the COO of NFL International in the league office.
“Selfishly, I personally love the international ambitions of the league, Greg and Carrie support it, Sean’s a big fan of it,” Leech said. “So anything we can do to support the overall league initiative, we’re on board.”
Training camp update
The Broncos are set to move into their new team headquarters in June.
That project is on time and on budget, Penner said. Fans, however, will not be back on a grass berm for training camp come July. Instead, the club will once again use temporary bleachers for fans attending camp practices.
Leech said he expects capacity to be about double what it was last summer, so somewhere in the 1,500 neighborhood.
“And then shortly after camp ends, we’ll start to build the berm back up and it will be more similar to what fans are used to,” Leech said. The new berm will go where the Broncos’ current building is, to the East of Denver’s practice fields.
DL a free agent possibility
Paton and the Broncos think they are well-situated to make up for the loss of defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers.
Franklin-Myers, of course, signed a massive three-year, $63 million deal with Tennessee when free agency opened.
Even though Denver is confident in its depth beyond the starting trio, thanks to Malcolm Roach, Eyioma Uwazurike, Jordan Jackson, and second-year man Sai’Vion Jones, Paton left the door open to adding from the outside still in the coming weeks or months.
“We have pretty good depth, but you are always looking for big guys on the offensive and defensive lines,” he said.
How rare is this retention?
Paton said he hadn’t exactly crunched the numbers on just how many of their own the Broncos have brought back this offseason — but admitted the front office’s approach was “pretty unique.”
“It’s not for everyone, what we’re doing,” Paton said.
Indeed, in recent history, it really hasn’t been for anyone. According to some numbers crunched by The Denver Post, the Broncos currently have 94% of their 2025 snaps under contract heading into their 2026 offseason program. Denver has added only one external free agent, safety and special-teams player Tycen Anderson, and Paton made clear Monday that this was an intentional approach centered on preserving what’s already in the building.
“The culture — and the guys we have really fit it,” Paton said. “It just, itap kinda worked out that way.”
